The present disclosure relates to content control, and more particularly to content modification control using read-only type definitions.
Analysis of executing application programs reveals extensive use of redundant copy operations that drag down performance. These redundant copy operations are redundant in the sense that many of these copy operations are not intended to manipulate content, but rather are performed to protect framework controlled buffers from undesired manipulations, e.g., content modification.
In several programming languages, but not in all, protecting particular content from undesired manipulation can be achieved using immutable objects (objects whose states generally cannot be modified after they are created), or by using suitable object facades. However, some programming languages, including Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP, which is commercially available from SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany), and some computing environments/systems, do not support immutable type objects. As a result, such programming languages and/or computing environments incur performance penalties when they implement, for example, buffer protection schemes (to prevent content modifications of content that should not be modified) using mechanisms involving the generation of redundant copies of objects.